#46 Joana De Brito Santos Prado, Marketing and PR for fashion brands

Instagram: @joanabritosp / @brandnewnewbrands

For me, each pair of shoes I own has a story behind it and it kind of helps me remember different phases and special moments I lived in my life. I remember the white sneakers I had to buy when I went to my first Dior show, the grey one that my mom helped me choose with all her love when she came visit me and the stylish leopard print one that reminds me so much of my sister, when I wear it I feel she is closer to me. Since I moved to NY four years ago, I changed the way I wear and buy shoes. Right now I’m always wearing sneakers and through this short but intense journey, I was able to find pairs that not only tell my own story, but also show the person I am right now. 

I like to wear comfortable shoes because everyday I’m walking miles and miles in the city, I love to walk and that’s a way for me to enjoy and relax. Right now, I feel that I can allow myself to be more comfortable not only with the shoes I wear, but with the decisions I make and with the paths I decide to follow. As a fashionista since I was very young, it is a big step for me to wear sneakers everywhere I go. I'm much more opened to experience, I'm much more flexible to myself and I definitely am much more secure about what I want.

I look back and I see the evolution, step by step, a girl becoming a woman, I’m still taking life very seriously, but in a lighter way,  that allows me to be who I really am, deeply inside. The shoes I chose are sneakers, of course! They tell my story and combine the roots of my personality with who I became today, these shoes and this feeling is something that I want to carry with me always. Wherever I may go.